Blog
Reading ONE DAY, by David Nicholls
26 February, 2010
I was going to merely comment on One Day, by David Nicholls in our Currently we are reading column, but realise I have too much to say about it… Proof that you should never judge a book by its cover. This one is a garish orange, close-up silhouette of a couple presumably about to kiss. […]
T-shirt joy at JOY!
25 February, 2010
Have you ever noticed how once you see one example of something they keep cropping up where ever you go? This week for me it has been t-shirts, ones with funny/naughty slogans, they have been here, there and everywhere, often leaving me staring after people in the street in a confused fashion. And when I […]
When credit cards just won’t do
23 February, 2010
With the snow showing no sign of letting up, this year is possibly the very best for keen skiers in Europe. However, skiing is a very expensive hobby and there are always those looking to cut corners and save a bit of cash. Pity this poor guy though who tried to sneak onto a ski […]
Author Blog Awards 2010
22 February, 2010
I’ve just been alerted to the upcoming launch of the Author Blogs Awards – run by CompletelyNovel.com. The aim of this award is “to highlight to readers the great content that you can find in author blogs, reward those authors who write excellent blogs, and encourage other authors to start their own.” Here’s how it […]
What you said about Glass Houses (Morganville Book 1)
19 February, 2010
Before Christmas, we ran a competition with our friends The Reading Agency and teen reading groups around the UK. We gave them the first installment in our Morganville Vampires series, Glass Houses, and asked for reviews – and in turn have now received some great and detailed responses. Plenty of our reviewers mentioned how accurate […]
Snapshot: Ann Cleeves & Martin Edwards
18 February, 2010
Taken last night at the-one-and-only Goldsboro Books (London) where I joined a merry crowd to celebrate the launch of crime-writers Ann Cleeves’ new book Blue Lightening (a new case for Shetland detective Jimmy Perez) and Martin Edwards‘ new book The Serpent Pool (the latest in his Lake District mystery series). Chiara Priorelli, Publicity & Online […]
An interesting lesson in crafty marketing…
17 February, 2010
I received an email the other day from a finance company wishing to advertise on our website with a link back to their site. I didn’t think it was appropriate, and said as much, but they insisted it would be a “textual advert” and somewhat hidden within the content on the page. Still unconvinced but […]
Avatar pilates, of course
16 February, 2010
My pilates class takes place on a Monday evening straight after work. Usually, it’s the most I can handle on the first weekday back at work: gentle breathing, relaxing, stretching. I always leave the class feeling refreshed and ready to face the week ahead. Also, the muscles do ache a bit in the following days […]
Valentine’s (hic!) Day
15 February, 2010
For Valentine’s Day you could have found me and the other half squinting in rapt concentration, aiming for a swirl (but slopping more instead) and making some interesting noises through pursed lips under a London railway arch. Sounds romantic, no? Guided through a systematic approach to wine-tasting in the Vinopolis caverns around London Bridge, we […]
Love-sick on a book tour
11 February, 2010
We’re coming up to Valentine’s and perhaps inspired by the fact I watched the Sex & the City Movie again which sees Carrie reading a book Love Letters from Great Men, I googled the topic and enjoyed a few minutes perusing a few of such amorous letters posted on the internet. I can’t help but […]
The Art of Cover Art
10 February, 2010
Every now and again we are contacted by freelancers asking us to keep them on our radar. Alice Stevenson is one such freelancer and although we rarely do books requiring illustrations like this, I can’t help myself from browsing her website to see the beautiful new things she’s been up to – like her beautiful […]
Train your brain (and have fun in the process)
8 February, 2010
It’s a known fact that the Telegraph Online is an excellent source of news, features, review pages, blogs TV and job listings etc…but were you aware that it offered brain-training excercises too? If not, allow me to introduce you to Word Bubbles – a brain-training game to which I am now seriously addicted and causing […]
Exactly what libraries need?
5 February, 2010
You know, I might harp on a bit about this whole ebooks/digital thing, but away from the news-grabbing stories of iPad this and epub that, there are some pretty cool developments taking place which are a really positive thing for reading as a whole. For instance, you may not be aware of Bloomsbury Library Online, […]
Review of It’s Complicated
3 February, 2010
Earlier this week I went to see It’s Complicated – the new movie featuring Meryl Streep as a divorcée , who unexpectedly finds herself having an affair… with her ex-husband. The ex-husband is Alec Baldwin, a man who had left her ten years ago for a yonger woman, and to whom he is currently still […]
More neologisms…
2 February, 2010
I absolutely loved reading all the brilliant entries to our recent Caboose competition – the one where we asked you to supply us with alternative meanings for the word ‘caboose’ – see previous blog. Now I’m delighted to discover that The Washington Post has been running similar neologism contests (in which readers are asked to […]
A little gem for cinema-goers
1 February, 2010
I’ve been watching more films recently – mostly thanks to my Lovefilm account. But occasionally there’s a film you just have to see on the big screen and this cinema in Notting Hill is my secret love. The Coronet is an old Victorian theatre, with gorgeous old-school décor in scarlet and gold and feels like […]
Best Birthday E-cards
29 January, 2010
Never one to shy away from any kind of excuse for festivity, I am happy to broadcast that today is my birthday. On this note, I confess that I am terrible at remembering other people’s birthdays. And when I do remember it’s usually on the actual day and too late to be able to send a proper […]
Love is in the air?
27 January, 2010
How cool – this coming Valentines weekend I will be toasting some very good friends tying the knot ‘up north’. I’m usually terrible at remembering days like this and, unlike my other half, am much more likely to be the one picking up some tired looking ‘gift’ in the corner shop than he is. So, […]
Happy Australia Day!
26 January, 2010
G’day cobbers – today is Australia Day! I am always reminded of this since my Aussie boyfriend never lets this day pass without due fanfare. In fact, we had a pre-Aussie day BBQ this weekend – replete with bottles of Crown Lager, marinated prawns on the barbie, Aussie snacks such as Burger Rings, Shapes and In a Biskit Dixie Drumsticks, as […]
Do you know your book covers?
25 January, 2010
Copies of The Bookseller take a ridiculously long time to circulate in the A&B office (I’m one of the worst culprits – I think I may have a December copy still lurking in my intray somewhere). In the ‘latest’ edition (dated 8th January) that has just crossed my desk, I found a great competition for […]
Word-play and word-rewind…
22 January, 2010
I love clever word games, play on words etc – and this video takes the biscuit. A palindrome reads the same backwards as forward. This video reads the exact opposite backwards as forward. It was submitted by a 20-year-old in contest entitled “u @ 50” (run by AARP ) and I think it is simply brilliant. (Make sure […]
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